The Legend of Zelda: Runes of Rest
by MadMoomin
Summary: 2000 years on, Hyrule still hasn't recovered from Ganondorf's evil rule, but things go from bad to worse when Ganon possesses the body of Hyrule's recently deceased monarch. In these dark times, servant turns on master and blame is thrown around like weapons. A hero is needed, but the time for fairytales has past, and Link must do all he can to save Hyrule, even if it kills him...
1. Pro: Promise

**Hi! I'm from the Professor Layton universe, but I've had some time off so I thought I'd get back into writing by starting anew in the Legend of Zelda archive! Now, I will admit that I'm not so good at the timelines and I've only played a few of the games, but I love it already and wanted express that through story! Also, this is a much bigger archive to what I'm used to so excuse me for being a little scared! Please enjoy the story!**

Prologue: Promise

"Link!" He opened his eyes a fraction, head pounding, heart thumping. Navi was dancing in front of him, her light blurring his vision. "You have to get up! You can't give up now!" Link groaned, but pushed himself up onto his knees; of course he wasn't giving up, he was supposed to be the hero, if he didn't save the day, who would? He raised himself to his feet, pouring all his strength into this small action, then bent over double, coughing up bile. Who was he kidding? What could he do in this state?

A wicked laugh thundered through the room. "Sorry to crush your little fantasy." Ganondorf cackled. "But little kids playing heroes just isn't enough to defeat the 'bad guy'." Link scowled at the ground. How dare he, even at his level, how dare he call him a kid! He had sacrificed everything for this moment: his home, his friends, seven years of his life just to get this far… And yet, he had failed…

Navi, having entwined her soul with Link's own, felt this depression and flew in front of him, trying to catch his attention as he fought for every breath of air. "Link, listen to me! Remember the Morpha? A-and Twinrova? Remember every monster we slayed, even when it seemed impossible?"

"Navi…"

"It looks bad, I know, but it did all those other times as well, and you always won in the end! I know you can-"

"Navi... !" This was said with all the urgency Link could muster, silencing the fairy. He looked up at her now, and something in the look he gave her, in his watering eyes and quivering lips, made Navi stop inside.

"... No… You can't! Link! No!" But the boy dropped, no longer able to support himself. His cheek slammed in the cold stone floor. He winced, pain shooting through his body, so paralyzing that he couldn't move if he wanted to. His eyes remained open, determined to get one last look at the world; from here he could see the sword, glowing softly, as if calling to him. He smiled faintly at it. _Thank you for choosing me, for believing in me… I'm sorry I failed you._

The world span around him, pain filled every inch of his limp body and all he could hear was the muffled booming laughter of Ganondorf and the faint griefing cries of Navi. His head was so full of fog that, when he felt himself being lifted into the air, his first thought was that he was leaving the world for some heavenly paradise, but, as usual, he had no such luck. Soon he became aware that he had been lifted by his neck some metres off the ground, cutting off his breathing all together. His eyes met Ganon's terrifying smirk, laughing and taunting him. However, this wasn't the image that brought more tears to his eyes, but rather that just above him, where Zelda was thrashing against the sides of her prison, using every spell she knew to in order to break out, but to no avail. When she saw him looking at her, she stopped, placed a hand on the glass-like wall and broke into tears.

"Any last words?" Ganon mocked, tearing Link's eyes away from the weeping maiden. "Anything you want to say?" Then… Everything went white, and eternity passed in no time at all. Perhaps it was some vision sent by the Goddesses, or maybe it was just his dying mind trying to find some comfort, either way, it was enough to satisfy him.

With some newly found strength, he pulled at Ganon's hand to free his throat enough to speak, and horse though his voice was, it was surprisingly confident. "I-I am not the first, and neither am I the last." He managed, struggling to keep his grip. "I… I may have lost… I wasn't ready… Not… strong enough… But I warn you, time and time again, I have won, and I will win again… If you value your life, Ganon, leave Hyrule… And never return." He managed a daring grin. "... Because I will come back." Silence filled the room as Link gasped for air out of the effort of speaking. After a while, Ganon started to laugh wickedly

"Well!" He boomed. "I for one am terrified! I must say, that is certainly an impressive statement. I must also thank you for giving me something to do for the last few weeks, being a king can be most dull at times." He gave sarcastic sigh. "But now, alas, you have outlived your purpose. So long, Hero of Time!" At this, Link's body burst into flames. Zelda screamed, and Navi's wails grew louder. When the fire died out, there was no ash, bones or anything to suggest there had been a living being there just moments before. There was, however, the Ocarina of Time, seemingly untouched and hovering exactly where Link had kept it in a leather pouch on his belt. It hung there, then, as if in slow motion, fell to the ground, where it shattered into thousands of pieces. No saw this happen, though, for they were staring in awe at the golden triangle, the Triforce of Courage, dancing in Ganondorf's hands.

 **In case you're confused, this is meant to be the end of OoT if Link lost to Ganondorf. Please tell me what you think and I will see you soon!**


	2. Chapter 1: Some 2000 Years Later

**Hello again! And now, we have some actual story about to happen! Enjoy!**

Chapter 1: Some 2000 years later

I didn't jolt awake, nor find myself screaming, I just woke up, the dream already slipping from my memory. I sat up and placed my fingertips on my temples, where a little sweat had collected, and tried to regain any fragments of the dream that remained. There was… A feeling of utter despair, like I had let everybody down, by far one of my least favourite emotions. Everything else was gone, except that, when I had woken up, I remember feeling a horrible phantom heat, gone as quick as it came, unbearable for that fraction of a second it had taken to become conscious…

In short, it was a bad dream.

Light was already streaming through my bedroom window, covering the opposite wall in a dull, morning glow. I got out of bed, stretched, then trudged into the corridor to check the old grandfather clock. It was an ancient thing that didn't so much chime as rattle these days. The wood was brittle and the face was murky with unshiftable grime. It had been handed down in my mother's family for generations, and had got to the point that is really should be handed down to the fireplace, but Dad kept it well polished and clean and rebuffed any suggestion of getting rid of it. I peered through the glass at the metal, corroded hands: it was about forty-nine passed five, I only had to be at the castle by seven am, plenty of time.

I spent the next hour eating, washing, preparing my uniform and pretty much what I did every morning. My uniform, the Hyrule Army Cadet (or HAC) uniform, was made mostly of thick leather and some chainmail. It would probably be useless to protect you in a duel, but iron and other metals were scarce, even these days, so the people would actually have to fight got the lion's share, while us cadets had to put up with practicing with wooden swords so as not to accidentally kill each other in training.

Thirty-seven passed six. I locked the front door behind me and started my journey to the castle. I usually walked with my father, but due to today's event, he was up and gone before I'd even woken up, probably a good thing too as, knowing him, he would have noticed something was up and fussed over the dream. I know he's just protective, but sometimes it gets a little over the top; if he found out about the dream, he'd probably interrogate me to find out what's lurking in my subconscious mind.

* * *

A walk through Hyrule castle town isn't a picnic at the best of times; even without the over crowded streets, the passed-out drunkards and the odd hysterical, wasted old man screaming words of doom upon us all, it was still a dreary place. It was always dark and smelly and barely a thing grew here, so all food products were imported from Hyrule field, making it expensive to buy and not as fresh as the Field people got it. The prices were unaffordable for the poor, usually driving them out of the castle town and into the country. I stopped at the town centre and perched on the side of the large fountain. I looked up at the grey sky, not cloudy, just grey, it was always grey, casting a dull light over the land. And if you looked closely… Ah, yes, there it was! A lighter patch in dim screen...

Up until the age of 12, all children of Hyrule castle town were expected to go to a Sunday school. There, we learned general knowledge, basic science and maths and, my personal favourite, legends and stories. After that you were expected to do the job your father did, become an apprentice or (if you were a girl) stay at home and learn all you needed to know to be someone's wife some day. In one of the Sunday lessons, we were told a lot about the sky, and that, behind this lighter patch, there was the sun, a burning star that stopped us from freezing to death. I remember asking the teacher why the sky was grey, and he told us that a blanket of cloud, which was grey, hung just above us, protecting us from too much sunlight that would kill us. This confused me a little, so I asked my mother about it when I got home. She laughed, then said "stupid scientists, lying to make their word gospel!" Then she told me about the Old World, and how, back then, the sky wasn't grey, but blue. She told me that the sun would beat down on the world without protection from clouds, never killing anyone. This was the first time I had ever heard of the Old World, and ever since I have found it a most intriguing topic.

I opened my eyes, awaking from my daydream, knowing that I ought to get a move on. Although I still had while before I had to be there, 'Captain Sparrows' would know if I'd been wasting time, waffling around.

* * *

"I must be dreaming!" Mari gaped at me as I arrived at the training centre. "Link? The last one here!? It can't be!" I laughed and gestured for her to budge up so I could join her and the other two cadets on the wooden bench.

"Surely I've been last before." I ventured, already knowing what they're going to say.

"Yeah, like, every blue moon." Rowan chuckled, sorting a little. "Sleep in this morning, did you Link?"

"I don't see what's so amazing about it." Gideon frowned. "I for one can remember plenty of times that he was the last of us here."

"Do you really." Mari rolled her large, brown eyes. "You know what else doesn't happen often, Gideon? You taking a joke." This made Rowan explode with laughter. Mari and I also chuckled a little, just for his sake; Rowan was rather odd, one of those friends that seem so completely out of their minds that they are rather uncomfortable to be around, but you don't have the heart to exclude them. Then again, we were all misfits there, as I said earlier, after the age of 12 you can work for your father, live with your mother or, if you were sure it was what you wanted, work for someone else. If you couldn't do any of these, you became a cadet.

"Joke's won't get you anywhere in the army." Gideon protested. "How do you expect to be promoted if you can't take things seriously? I mean, how many times have I screwed up in front of an officer?"

"86 times in the last three years, according to my notes." We all scramble off the bench to attention at the sound of the Captain's voice. He had just come out of the Army head quarters, underneath the castle, and was in his best armor, gleaming from oli with the odd bit of gold leaf on it. He was also wearing his helmet, which I knew for a fact he found uncomfortable. The Captain strode up to Gideon, obviously struggling to walk normally as he didn't often have to wear such heavy gear on a regular basis. "86 time is not bad, but nothing to bloat about, if you catch my drift, Cadet Vine."

"Yes Sir, sorry Sir." Gideon mumbled.

"Yes, well…" Captain Sparrows then went on to check our uniforms. He only gave out the odd pointer, such as an undone button or a wisp of hair out of line, all of which answered with 'yes Sir'. Finally he came to me. He knew and I knew that he needn't have bothered, my uniform was always perfect, however he always tried to pick up on something… "... Have you polished your boots this morning?"

"Nope." The others sniggered a little at my informal reply. The Captain scowled.

"Don't you mean, 'no Sir'?"

"If you like." Mari pretended to cough to let the giggles out. Captain Sparrows tried to shoot her a warning glare, but aborted in fear of laughing himself.

"Well, would you like to tell me why you didn't polish them?"

"Because you can already see your face in them," I complained. "It'd be a waste of polish!"

Captain Sparrows sighed. "Fine, I'll let you off this time."

"Thanks Dad." I knew I was pushing my luck a bit there, but it had been a while since I had last teased him like this, and it was fun. He prodded me in the chest with one sausage-like finger.

"You're in uniform, you're at attention and you're on army grounds, so you call me Sir, Captian or get out."

"Okay, sorry Dad." He grunted at my bold remark, yet I could tell that, under his helmet, he was smiling.

"None of your check." He said, softly. "... Not today." The giggles died down to a stop, and the mood lowered. Suddenly feeling very serious, I nodded, the grin fading from my face.

"Yes Sir, sorry Sir."

"Better." The Captain dismissed us until further notice, and went back to the preparations.

 _Yes, Link, no messing around today._ I reminded myself. _Not on the day of the King's funeral..._

 **Thanks for reading! I know there are a lot of loose ends in this chapter but they do get cleared up! Please leave a review as even a few words encourages me no end! Until next time!**


	3. Chapter 2: Missing You

**Hey! Hope you liked the little bit about Link's dad in the last chapter! Now for a bit about his mum, which is a little less lighthearted I'm afriad. Hope you're all have great summer holidays! (And if you haven't finished yet, I feel sorry for you :/ ) Enjoy the chapter!**

Chapter 2: Missing You

I was 11 when my mother died. She was a weaver for a living, crafting everything from baskets to dream catchers. Of course, having a father in a high rank in the army meant that we could get along fine without her earning as well, she just took it up as a hobby one day, then later on, decided to make it her trade. There weren't many craftsmen/women in castle town, anyone with an ounce of creativity usually moved to the Kakariko village or the Field, which was where my mother had lived before marrying my father. Barely a basket locally had not been crafted by her delicate hand, my father was fond of saying; he was very proud of mother for taking a leap and earning her own money as, although technically men and women have the same rights when it comes to jobs, even those highly educated in law tend to frown upon working women. My parents, along with many other people, took pleasure in breaking this stereotype (it is for this reason that Mari is in the Hyrule Army Cadets). Due to the lack of fellow crafters, my mother often went to fairs and visits to the Field. This would be once every three months or so that she would catch the coach that goes all around Hyrule, a pile of baskets next to her, and wave to me until she was out of sight. She was always gone for three days or multiples of three, because it takes the coach three days to drop her off, do it's cycle, then come back in the direction of Hyrule castle town.

On one of these trips, she didn't come after the expected three days, nor was there a letter saying she'd be longer. My father left me in the care of one of his army friends and followed after her. It took six days for him to return, most of which I spent crying in the arms of Sargent Menachem's wife. When my father did return, it was in a state of utter shock, and with a large, wooden box.

No one knew exactly what had happened to her, some passer-bys had just found her in a ditch. My father never gave me details about the manner of her death. The only clue I ever got was on one scary night soon after, when he got very drunk. He screamed, threw things, smashed things while I was crying under my bed out of pure terror. Luckily, Sargent Menachem and his wife came to the rescue once more. Once my father had been calmed down a little, he began to cry hysterically, which was when I heard him say "Torn to pieces! Torn to pieces! What kind of sentient creature could do that!?" I wasn't the only one scarred by this event, but let's just say that, no matter what I did, Dad has never raised his voice to me since.

Mum's funeral was horrible occasion. Of course, funerals are never brilliant, but they should have an element of remembering the deceased fondly and wishing them luck in whatever came next, but everyone was just shocked and heartbroken and scared. I remember it like yesterday, the entire ceremony. The Castle church interior was bright and colourful as always, but seemed much duller on that day. Lady Impa, head adviser for the king, General of the Army and royal governess, always took care of funerals and marriages in the castle town, so she was there blessing Mum's soul and laying protection over the body, but the mood was so low that even the noble herself seemed eager to leave the miserable event.

It is custom at Hyrulian Funerals that the deceased's youngest relative must read out the Resting Script, the final and argued to be the most important part of the ceremony. For Mum, I had to read it, which is why I still remember every word.


End file.
